What you should know about holiday travel insurance when pregnant

Whether it’s a weekend getaway or a month-long holiday escape overseas, purchasing travel insurance cover is always important. If you are pregnant, however, it is vital that you have travel insurance before leaving for holiday. Purchasing travel insurance during a pregnancy not only protects you from a variety of eventualities, but also gives you the necessary peace of mind to enjoy your holiday. Here’s what you should know about holiday travel insurance when pregnant before you pack your bags and take off.

Airline rules and travel cover when pregnant

Most leading airlines allow expectant women to fly until they are 36 weeks. In fact, major holiday airlines in the UK like British Airways, Virgin, Emirates and Thomson will gladly welcome you onboard if you are pregnant until 36 weeks provided a GP gives the go ahead, which they mostly do. In America, leading airlines like Delta and United don’t even have an upper limit for pregnant women to fly.

That said, most travel insurance policies for pregnant mums-to-be end as early as 24 weeks into a pregnancy. This means that if you were to fall ill while on a trip abroad you would be forced to cough up large sums of money to cover your own treatment. Worse still, many mums-to-be don’t even realise that their travel cover ends early because the loophole is often buried deep in the fine print of travel insurance policies.

Expert Malcolm Tarling from the Association of British Insurers has this to say about getting holiday travel insurance when pregnant: “All insurance policies will have terms, conditions and restrictions and if you want a competitively priced “off the peg” travel policy, then you’ve got to fit in with the insurer’s criteria.

“Based on claims experience, some insurers will set different limits and restrictions, and as they can’t go through all the terms and conditions with customers individually it’s always important to read your policy.”

Travel expert Bob Atkinson, from travelsupermarket.com, adds:

“You can easily get caught out and should never assume travel insurance limits are the same as your airline. If your current insurer won’t cover you, shop around for a new policy that will.”

Shopping for pregnant mums’ travel insurance

According to Atkinson, “Insurers that don’t impose cut-off limits include Direct Line, Churchill and Co-op Travel insurance, providing you don’t travel against airline rules or medical advice.” Other providers offering holiday insurance covers when pregnant include OUL Direct online that has quite a low cut-off limit, High Street chemist Boots that has a cut-off limit of 24 weeks from the start of the holiday and Argos and Direct Travel that both have a 26-week cut-off limit. Mainstream insurers like Barclays, Columbus Direct and Sainsbury impose a 28-week return travel insurance limit.